DR. WHO
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
DR. KANDIS ADKINS
AUTHOR Kathryn Vance
Preparing for this Dr. Who interview looked a little
different this month. We’re not meeting in a coffee shop.
Instead I’m sitting at my kitchen table (my new workfrom-home
setup) and Dr. Kandis Adkins had to sneak
off to a corner while her daughter napped in the next
room. However, with balancing her career, teaching and
raising her family, she is used to adapting to all curveballs
thrown at her.
Growing up just a few hours north of us in Indianapolis,
Indiana, Dr. Adkins’ path to medicine was anything but direct.
In fact, she never knew a doctor personally until she was an
undergrad going the pharmacy route at Florida Agricultural
and Mechanical University (FAMU), where she began tutoring
pre-med students in chemistry and calculus. They sparked her
interest. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry
from FAMU in 2004 and then returned home to Indianapolis for
medical school at Indiana University School of Medicine, which at
the time was the only medical school in the state.
“Indiana felt like it was a great place to learn medicine,” she
said. “We had the opportunity to experience health and sickness
in a huge variety of scenarios, serving different communities and
different types of patients. We benefitted from the experience
of physicians who had trained all over the country. I felt very
fortunate to be there and I felt very nurtured and well taken care
of.” She stayed in Indianapolis to complete a three-year residency
in anesthesiology, even though that specialty was not originally
anywhere on her radar.
“We had so many wonderful professors – IU made you
interested in everything. I went into med school thinking ‘I like
kids, I’ll probably do pediatrics’ and then as I learned more, I
became more interested in everything else,” she said. “It made
choosing very difficult. Luckily, anesthesia was a required
rotation at IU, which is not the case at many places, and it just fit
immediately.”
While working through her residency, she decided to further
her training by completing an anesthesia critical care fellowship.
“I did a trauma rotation, and while I liked the OR, I also
liked managing the patient from head to toe in the days after
the operation,” she said. “I had the opportunity to go to Duke, a
powerhouse school for most specialties. A lot of thought leaders
from around the world have spent time at Duke. I was able to
complete a fellowship there with a lot of great co-fellows and
amazing attendings. I learned a ton, and I had a great experience.
I worked very hard, but I had a great experience.”
Before leaving for Duke, however, she met her future husband,
Donnie, while he was working in supply chain procurement for
the IU School of Medicine. Since she had already committed to
Duke, the couple dated long-distance for a year before eventually
moving back to Louisville together in July 2013. Through a chain
of colleagues, Dr. Adkins was presented with an opportunity
to help start an ICU program at Jewish Hospital specifically for
cardiac surgery patients.
“It was a little daunting to think about because I hadn’t planned
on doing cardiac surgery ICU,” she said, explaining that while
the ICU care was happening at the time, it wasn’t an organized
program. Having someone in the unit to manage patients has been
proven beneficial at multiple institutions, and she knew that she
wanted to be a part of bringing it to Jewish.
“When we came, we were the first intensivists for the cardiac
surgery program,” she said. “I work with a great group of people;
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